Could November session bring a reprieve for Teaching Fellows? (video)

Three weeks from now legislators return to Raleigh to revisit redistricting and attempt to override the Governor’s veto of the Energy Jobs Act. But there is also growing optimism that lawmakers will use the opportunity to revisit funding for the NC Teaching Fellows Program.

House Speaker Thom Tillis has said lawmakers may reconsider the section of the state budget that eliminated funding for next year’s freshman class and included language to eventually phase-out the program.

Jo Ann Norris, executive director of the Public School Forum, believes intense political pressure may now prompt Tillis and other legislative leaders to reinstate the scholarship money in advance of the short session next May.

Norris, who appears this weekend on News & Views, notes time is of the essence if they hope to salvage the program for 2012.

The 25-year-old program offers partial scholarships to gifted high school students who agree to teach four years in North Carolina’s public schools.